Hi! I’m a software engineer from Japan. I think one of the most important parts of learning a language is by hearing it from real people speaking naturally, not just from textbooks. There are apps out there for language exchange, but often times it’s stressful to remember to keep up conversations for a long time, and there are some weirdos on there too. That’s why I started my project that I’m calling 1topic.
Every day it asks you a question and you respond verbally in your native language, then you can hear answers in other languages that you want to learn. The app transcribes recordings for you so you can check that your listening skills are correct, and there’s no personal or direct messaging so you can focus just on listening and understanding.
For the time being, I’m trying to smooth out the experience and refine its features, so it’s currently free to use! Please give it a try and let me know what you think!
[1topic.com](https://1topic.com)
8 comments
Btw, I am the Japanese person from 2 weeks ago who was asking about [What’s the hardest thing to learn Japanese?](https://www.reddit.com/r/LearnJapanese/comments/13su77o/whats_the_hardest_thing_to_learn_japanese/) Thank you everyone for your comments! I was surprised to receive so many comments and I feel like it gave me some insights about learning Japanese and foreign languages in general!
This is a great idea.
I like the end-goal of a library of recordings. I especially like the idea of multiple answers to the same question, which limits concepts and vocabulary.
Let me suggest a few additional functions.
(1) (If you don’t already have it), speech to text conversion for all content, so people can check the content of the recordings. This will help with creating indexes and searching.
(2) shadowing functions—where users can record their own voice mimicking the question or the answers.
(3) (Perhaps for additional fees or premium members), longer questions and answers.
(4) Some form of quizzes, where answers are provided, so users can figure out what they misunderstand?
I got nothing to say except nice idea.
This is a great idea, thanks for making it! My comprehension skills for japanese are usually decently solid, but the other day I tried to listen to a podcast in japanese and I couldn’t get a word out of it. Will definitely be giving this a shot
This is great! I’ll happily contribute whenever I can.
This is a great idea!
I’m hoping if you can separate Cantonese and Mandarin (while showing both traditional and simplified) for Chinese! Its spoken languages don’t work the same way as the written ones do.
I see that many people have already tried it in various languages. Thank you very much. I’m also recording my answer in Japanese and check the text everyday, so I think Japanese learners can already enjoy it!
My only motivation for learning Japanese is to understand (listening, reading) native material – e.g. novels and audio dramas. I have neither interest nor prospect to live/work in Japan. How do I get better, aside from attempting to translate the material into another language? I am already doing that, but I still run into novels or CD Dramas that I understand less than 80% of without consulting the dicttonary.